Solar or photovoltaic panels may be installed with a tracking system to pivot and track the sun during the day. The solar panels may also be installed with fixed systems, or with systems that allow manual adjustment of the panels with changes in seasons. One type of system has parallel rows of panels, each row extending north and south. The panels are mounted on a torque or support tube. Each row has a separate support tube, which is supported on posts. For tracking systems, a drive shaft extends perpendicular to the support tubes and has mechanical devices that convert movement of the drive shaft into rotation of the support tube. A controller programmed to track the sun operates the drive shaft.
The solar panels are typically mounted side-by-side to the support tube with clamps. Each clamp may have upper and lower braces secured on top of the support tube by a retainer. The retainer, for example, may be two bolts extending downward from the upper brace alongside the support tube and through holes in a flat plate located below the support tube. Nuts secure the bolts to the flat plate, and also tighten the upper brace to the lower brace. Some clamps, particularly those having longer length braces, employ in addition two shorter length bolts at the ends of the braces to tighten ends of the upper brace to the lower brace. The workers need to be careful to assure that the lower brace is perpendicular to the support tube, one installed. Edges of the adjacent solar panels will be positioned on the lower brace. An upper brace will then be placed over the solar panel edges and secured by bolts to the lower brace. Normally, three workers are required to install solar panels on a support tube.